


Nobody's on Nobody's Side

by Alithea



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-29
Updated: 2010-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-06 19:36:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alithea/pseuds/Alithea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU, songfic. Duo is convinced that Noin needs to sing a song, unfortunately she has to share the song she wants with someone she doesn't like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nobody's on Nobody's Side

**Author's Note:**

> Written 2009 after watching Chess in concert one too many times. The song lyrics include Nobody's Side and I Know Him so Well and are property of Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, &amp; Bjorn Ulvaeus.

She flipped through the binder with great reluctance. The young man standing next to her and peering over her shoulder would occasionally make noises of excitement, presumably over a song title, but one could never be certain. She sighed heavily which seemed to register with the youth over the music of the club and he backed up a few inches. Her violet eyes continued to skim the offerings until at last she found something she thought she could manage.

She pointed it out and the young man raised his eyebrows with surprise.

"Really?" He said. His voice rose well enough over the club's cacophony to be heard. "I didn't take you for the musical type, Noin."

She shook her head. "I just..." She sighed and raised her voice. "I just remember this song really well, from high school."

The young man seemed content with the explanation and hopped away to put her name down on the list. Noin remained where she was wondering how on earth she allowed the impish youth to trick her into coming out for karaoke. Duo had his charms though, and if it had been anyone else at the office to ask she would have been able to properly sulk in the privacy of her own home. There was just too big a chance she'd run into people she didn't want to see.

That was always the problem with places that were slated as group gathering spots, if anything went awry between couples or friends there was never a proper escape except her own house. Of course she could have taken a chance on a new place, but she wasn't sure about that either. She just wasn't sure if it was better to feel alone in a group of strangers or alone in a group of her friends.

She shifted on the bar stool and flagged the gruff and irritable looking bartender for a drink. She ordered a shot of whiskey and that seemed to make him grin. He was definitely the sort of guy that abhorred "sissy" drinks and it showed when he was asked by a petite looking young woman with purple hair for a Funtini. Noin shook her head, certain that there wasn't supposed to be anything fun about a martini.

The shot was placed before her and she took it quickly.

Noin hated clubs. She went to them, but the colorful lights and carefree movements just didn't suit her. She blamed it on her stint in the military, but deep down it was her unwillingness to just let go. And that inability was exactly why Duo had insisted upon dragging her out once he heard about the rumored incident at work. Duo didn't understand not letting go and just living. He was a responsible kid, but Noin could see in every facet of the young man's being that want to take every moment and run with it. He was fearless, and she really hoped that, being in his company, some of that fearlessness would rub off on her.

Duo bounded back to her with a grimace on his face. He shook his head and said, "Someone's already singing that song."

"Oh," she replied, semi-relieved at not having to make a complete ass of herself. "That's too bad."

Then Duo grinned.

"What, did you do?"

"Well," he began, and his grin grew puckish. "I've convinced the lady to let you sing along with her as a duet. So…Do you want to be Florence or Svetlana?"

"I'm not sure-"

"Oh come on! The song is supposed to be a duet anyway. Besides, you'll get a real kick out of who it is." The young man interrupted quickly.

Noin shut her eyes and shook her head. She sighed and then said, "Okay, who is it I'm singing with?"

"Une." The boy could hardly contain the giggle behind his toothy smile.

Noin blinked. "You're a fool."

"Then don't do it." He replied with a casual shrug.

She looked at him. He had that victorious look on his face. He was being quite clear. He knew she really wanted to sing, even if she denied it. He knew she needed this moment and it didn't matter that she would have to sing with a woman she claimed she didn't like. He knew, and she knew he knew, and she finally just nodded her head in agreement before turning to the bartender and asking for another two shots of whiskey.

**Wanting far too much for far too long  
Looking back I could have played it differently**

Her subordinates had dubbed her, the lady, probably because despite the current casual business climate she "dressed-up" and appeared to live at the office. She never cared for the moniker, but then Trieze, her boss, had taken to it. She wondered if he did it on purpose, knowing she didn't like it. Was it a tease to just dig into her and test her loyalties?

It was such a stupid game, but she had fallen to it because she wanted to be perfect in his eyes. She was failing though. She had made a mistake, and her error had been costly. He had no choice but to throw her to the wolves and all the while all she could think was how absolutely sick it was that she still just wanted to please him. A one-sided office affair was now ended.

She had tossed off the shackles of her work attire and entered a place she had once considered off limits, lest her co-workers and subordinates see her with her guard down. Now it didn't matter though. She was no longer a superior or co-worker. She was tired of being a lady. She was tired of the total control, and so when the impish office boy had bounded up to her table with a request to share her song she gladly agreed.

She didn't really know Lucrezia Noin that well. She knew that there was probably some resentment because she pulled rank often and Noin absolutely hated it. And, Noin was probably right to hate it, because, Une would admit, she did it too often and over things that didn't matter that much. What Une did know about Noin, however, was a similarity in circumstances. Noin allowed herself to be placated and stepped over by a fellow male co-worker, and Une could see the reasons. Those reasons matched her own, her own excuses for being stepped on, and in a way seeing those similarities reflected back made her dislike Noin too.

Those reasons had slid away though.

Noin was still employed, but a rumor had reached Une about something that occurred in the office recently that was eerily similar to her own case. She hated the coincidence, the reflection of one life against another.

She watched from her table as Duo related the compromise back to Noin and grinned at the finale motion of agreement, including the extra shots of courage.

Une wasn't sure if she were more a Florence or a Svetlana that evening. She just knew that she had to sing that song.

After a moment Duo was back at her table.

"Well?" She asked.

"She's feeling more like Florence." He said.

Une closed her eyes and thought it over. The she opened them again and nodded. Yes, it really was right. She was rather more like Svetlana that night, completely betrayed and disregarded.

"Very well, thank you, Duo."

The boy waggled his eyebrows.

If he had a magic flower, Une thought, she and I would be in serious trouble tonight.

**Didn't I know, how it would go?  
If I knew from the start, why am I falling apart?**

A lull in the music was proceeded by the karaoke DJ calling Une's name. Noin felt her heart beating faster than it had in a long time. She reached the stage at the same time as the lady and fumbled awkwardly for the microphone just as the music started up. Thankfully there were a few bars of intro music before the lyrics appeared on the karaoke monitor.

Her voice was doing that warbley nervous thing that generally occurred when she had to speak in front of large crowds, but only lasted an instant. As her voice pressed forward she found that the nervous sound continued, and then Une's voice echoed her own. And with no sense of nervousness or fear in the lady's voice, and the whiskey finally kicking in, Noin's voice found the support it needed to strengthen up and lose the warble.

Her voice was definitely weaker in comparison to the lady's, but there was a similar edge that matched her own and made her disregard any feelings of inferiority she might otherwise have. If it had been another day or another song she would have faltered completely.

Every word, note, and verse were never truer than at that moment and when the music died down the crowd was at a loss, for an instant, at what to do next. And then they applauded, uproariously.

Noin blinked at the adulation and then immediately darted for the exit, shrugging of the congratulations and random pats on the back.

**Everybody's playing the game  
But nobody's rules are the same**

"Aren't you going to go after her?"

Une quirked an eyebrow and looked the young man over. "I thought she was your date for the evening?"

Duo grinned and shook his head. "You'd be better in this situation."

The lady narrowed her eyes and stared into the young man's baby blues. There was something he was up to. She could feel it. She hated being played and then recalled her wish to let go for an evening, regretting that want.

"If I thought for a moment that you were trying to get us together on purpose…" She paused and shook her head. She didn't want to finish that sentence. The young man really was a trickster. She turned her head towards the exit and then faced the young man again.

"Give me a cigarette and your lighter." Une commanded.

"She doesn't smoke." He advised.

"But I do."

"I heard you quit."

"Sometimes you have to indulge in a bad habit to remember why you quit."

He handed her his cigarettes and Zippo lighter that had a picture of a giant robot on it.

Une took a deep breath and began to walk outside.

**The one I should not think of  
** Keeps rolling through my mind  
And I don't want to let that go  
No lover's ever faithful  
No contract truly signed  
There's nothing certain left to know  
And how the cracks begin to show!

It was a hot summer night. There was little relief in the air outside. It was thick with humidity and the scent of cigarette smoke. Noin felt just as smothered as she had after the song had ended. She didn't want to leave though, and that made her feel stupid. There was just too much fear in being alone, and there was too much fear in the admiration of strangers.

Fear, fear everywhere and wasn't that why she hated going to clubs in the first place?

She shook her head, recalling her earlier thought. It was not wanting to let go, but, wasn't that driven by fear?

It should have been a normal evening out. It should have been, but she had been brave earlier in the day, and stupidly so. She knew what Zech's reaction was going to be. She knew, because she knew him that well. He was set on a goal, and while she was a competent working partner, that's all she could ever be. She opened her mouth regardless, and then they had to have a talk.

She leaned up against the wall of the club and shut her eyes. She supposed she could just go inside and order up a bottle to drown the stupids in, because they were hardly sorrows. Then amid the normal cigarette smell there was a spark of spiced smoke. It was a sweetness that tugged at teenage memory, smoking under bleachers, trying something dangerous before swearing them off as cancer sticks.

She opened her eyes and saw the lady.

"Everyone at the office thinks you've quit." Noin blurted it out, unable to say anything else with the woman's sudden arrival.

"I have." Une stated. "Temporary relapse, I'll blame it on one too many glasses of Scotch."

Noin chuckled softly. "Cute."

"Not generally a description I'm used to, but thank you." Une took a final drag from the Clove and then snuffed it out in the ash tray near the door of the club. "Are the rumors true?"

"Probably, which one are you referring to?"

"The one from today." Une replied and moved to lean against the wall on the other side of Noin, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ah yes…Yes, it's true." She shrugged. "It was stupid to do. I could be fired for something like that."

"True."

"What about you?"

"I was fired today. I can't quite get into the details, company secrets and legal stuff."

Noin blinked, "But you've given your soul to the company, or so I've heard."

Une grimaced, "Yes, I hear they keep it in a little jar somewhere in the boiler room." She tapped a finger along her arm and then looked over at the woman next to her when she heard a stifled chuckle. "I'm supposed to have another song soon."

"Oh? Same theme?"

"Yes, but I think I may skip it."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure it still applies to me."

"Maybe you just aren't thinking of it in the proper context."

**Never make a promise or plan  
** Take a little love where you can  
Nobody's on nobody's side

It seemed like a mistake to go back into the bar, despite the pressing matter of Une's second song. There was a moment of indecision in Noin's eyes but soon she shrugged and walked into the parking lot. Une followed, silently.

"What are we doing?"

"Walking to our cars," Une replied.

"And then what?"

Noin was tired of making mistakes. She felt like she was getting into something that wasn't really real. She thought she knew what was taking place between her and Une. In the quips and boring dialogue there was a suggestion. It was a temporary solution to a terrible day. There'd be hangover like consequences to pay in the morning, muffled regret and awkwardness in goodbyes with confused gestures of comfort that would be false promises. Or, Noin was reading it all wrong, as she was wont to do, and there was really nothing. She was mistaken. She wasn't sure she could handle either answer.

The lady wasn't answering right away either, and Noin realized she was looking at a darker reflection of herself making the same sort of assumptions and asking the same fearful questions.

In the back of her head Noin could hear Duo egging her on.

He'd say, "Isn't she attractive?"

And she'd say, "Yes."

And he'd say, "Then, what's the problem? What are you afraid of?"

Noin looked at the question and realized she was wrong. Duo wouldn't ask her what she was afraid of, the young man would already know. She was merely asking herself. It felt silly.

She shut her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair, which felt far too short and boyish a cut, especially right at that moment. She gritted her teeth for a second and then opened her eyes.

Une had moved in closer, or perhaps she had already been standing that close, but the short distance between them was definitely more noticeable than before. The lady stroked Noin's cheek with her thumb.

"You're lovely," The lady said and kissed her quickly, parting to say, but merely to mention, "This is a mistake."

Noin blinked and then replied, "But it's the right mistake."

"For the moment," Une stated and kissed her again.

End.


End file.
